Soft drinks alone do not affect children’s weight
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Soft drink consumption has increased in both the USA and the UK over the years and this has often been blamed for a rise in childhood body mass index (BMI). However, many of the review methodologies investigating the alleged links have been flawed. A recent scientific analysis of a nationally representative sample of children’s diets and lifestyles found no link between the amount of soft drinks children consume and their body weight.
UK researchers, led by Sigrid Gibson (SiG-Nurture Independent Nutrition Consultants), investigated sugars and soft drinks intake in children across the range of body weights seen in a nationally representative sample.
Aspartame is safe, study says
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A sweeping review of research studies of aspartame says there is no evidence that the non-nutritive sweetener causes cancer, neurological damage or other health problems in humans
Looking at more than 500 reports, including toxicological, clinical and epidemiological studies dating from 1970’s preclinical work to the latest studies on the high-intensity sweetener, along with use levels and regulations data, an international expert panel from 10 universities and medical schools evaluated the safety of aspartame for people of all ages and with a variety of health conditions. Their study is published in the September issue of Critical Reviews in Toxicology.
Glaucoma surgery in the blink of an eye
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Prof. Ehud Assia, of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Medicine is, quite simply, a rock star in the field of eye surgery.
One of a small number of surgeons in the world who currently perform a complicated form of glaucoma surgery, Prof. Assia has developed a novel laser device that promises to revolutionize treatment of the disease. The laser, called the OTS134 for now, is expected to give most practicing eye surgeons the ability to master complex glaucoma surgery very quickly.
Hunger hormone fights aging in the thymus
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The deterioration in immune function that occurs as an individual ages is thought to occur because the thymus involutes with age, causing a dramatic decrease in T cell output. New data generated by Dennis Taub and colleagues from the National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, suggest that in mice, thymic involution is caused by a decrease upon aging in thymic expression of both a hormone that is better known as a stimulator of food intake (ghrelin) and its receptor.
These results led them to caution that care should be taken when considering blocking ghrelin as a potential approach for treating individuals who are obese and to suggest that harnessing this pathway might provide a new approach to boost immune function in individuals who are elderly or immunocompromised.
Uterus lining involved in obese women’s infertility
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The lining of the uterus or “endometrium” appears to play a small but significant role in reducing fertility among women who are overweight, Spanish researchers report.
The findings, they say, show that overweight and obese women undergoing infertility treatment with donor eggs should try to lose weight before becoming pregnant, which will give them the best chance of a good outcome.
Doctor gender may matter in spotting heart disease
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A doctor’s gender could determine how early heart disease is detected in women, researchers said Thursday.
A study of how physicians make decisions found women doctors focused less on age than their male counterparts, potentially overlooking an important risk factor for coronary heart disease.
Drug combo works synergistically in type 2 diabetes
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In people with type 2 diabetes, the combination of two anti-diabetes drugs—sitagliptin and metformin—improves blood sugar control in a synergistic fashion, a study shows.
In type 2 diabetes, a person becomes less sensitive to the effects of insulin, a hormone that helps the body use sugar for fuel. The drug metformin works by making the body more responsive to insulin, while the drug sitagliptin works to boost the body’s ability to lower elevated blood sugar levels.
Dementia risk increased among older smokers
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Over 55 years old and smoke? You’re significantly more likely to develop dementia or Alzheimer’s disease than people who never smoked or have quit, findings from a Dutch study suggest.
“Over seven years of follow up, those who currently smoked were 50 percent more likely to develop dementia than never smokers (while) past-smokers had a slightly increased risk to develop dementia,” Dr. Monique Breteler told Reuters Health.
Heart attacks tumble after Irish smoking ban
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Ireland’s rate of heart attacks fell by around a tenth in the year following the introduction of the world’s first nationwide ban on workplace smoking, boosting the case for more similar bans, doctors said on Tuesday.
Edmond Cronin and colleagues at Cork University Hospital said an analysis of people admitted with heart attacks to public hospitals in southwest Ireland showed an 11 percent fall in the year after the ban came into effect in March 2004.
Asian men more likely to survive prostate cancer
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In a study of prostate cancer patients living in California, most Asian men with the disease survived longer than their white counterparts. The exception was men from South Asia; their survival was worse than that of white men.
In an interview with Reuters Health, Dr. Anthony S. Robbins, from the California Cancer Registry in Sacramento, said that few studies have compared prostate cancer risk factors and survival between Asians and whites. He added that “there are zero that looked at Koreans, Vietnamese, and South Asians.”
Sleep position for preemies questioned
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The lung volumes of premature infants is higher when they are place on their stomachs (i.e., prone) rather than their backs, a UK study indicates, but this doesn’t seem to improve the concentration of oxygen in their circulation much, at least when they are not in respiratory distress.
“Prematurely born infants are often nursed prone in the initial stage of illness, because such positioning is associated with superior oxygenation and lung function,” Dr. Anne Greenough and colleagues from King’s College Hospital, London, write in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. “However, there has been little research on the effect of sleeping position on convalescent infants.”
Diabetes drug promising as aid to weight loss
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Treatment with pramlintide, which is approved in the US for lowering blood sugar in people with diabetes, leads to progressive weight loss in obese subjects, according to researchers.
Pramlintide, sold in the United States under the trade name Symlin, is a synthetic version of a natural hormone called amylin that slows down gastric emptying, thereby increasing the sensation of satiety and reducing food intake. Dr. Christian Weyer, the senior investigator on the current study, told Reuters Health that the results “are the most robust clinical proof-of-concept reported to date for the anti-obesity potential of a satiogenic peptide hormone.”
Anxiety over pregnancy linked to premature birth
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Women who are particularly anxious about their pregnancy may be at increased risk of premature delivery, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that among 1,820 pregnant women, those with the greatest concerns about their pregnancy were nearly three times more likely than those with the least anxiety to deliver prematurely. The findings are published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
Dutch stroke study urges greater anticoagulant use
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Dutch doctors called on Sunday for greater use of oral anticoagulants to prevent strokes in people with a common heart arrhythmia.
Atrial fibrillation (AF), a heart flutter, is dangerous because blood pools in the heart, forming clots that can lead to deadly strokes.
Marker of aggressive prostate cancer identified
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Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, have identified a protein “biomarker” of aggressive prostate cancer. The protein, known as B7-H3, plays a role in the functioning of the immune system.
Based on their studies to date, Dr. Timothy J. Roth and associates believe that B7-H3 is a promising marker that may eventually help doctors better diagnose prostate cancer and assess prognosis. It may also represent a good target for new prostate cancer drugs.
